| Summary/Abstract |
Collectivization of agriculture in Uzbekistan demanded the efforts of many local agitators who called on Uzbek dehqons to join kolkhozes, and who stimulated a local version of class warfare. In oral history interviews with those who experienced mass collectivization’s first moments, we find both the brutality of change imposed from above and a social transformation led by local Uzbek activists. We argue that Uzbek agitators allowed many dehqons to identify with this project to change rural land ownership, and that their offers of tangible benefits, such as advance payments for cotton crops and distribution of food, provided strong incentives for joining. Class rhetoric was important as activists divided the poor from the kulak and used threats of dekulakization, as well as incentives, to promote rapid collectivization.
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